During the recess of his New York State trial on fraudulently manipulating financial statements, indicted former president Donald Trump posted on his failing Truth Social platform a thinly-veiled threat against the court clerk in the case. Trump posted the “truth” shown below featuring a photo of the clerk standing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, in an unknown place, at an unknown time, in an unknown circumstance. We also will note that cannot confirm the unknown woman in the photo is actually the clerk. (We have documented the post, but opt to hide the woman’s face for her protection.)
After the post quickly got traction on other, more popular platforms, Trump deleted it, apparently scared that he would be taken to task by one of the judges in his various legal cases who have warned him against intimidating witnesses and court personnel on social media.
It’s such a great look for a democracy when a former president targets a court bureaucrat for doing her job. To paraphrase Trump, “If he can do it to her, he’ll do it to you, too.” [UPDATE: 3:10 p.m. ET: Judge Engoron ordered Trump to remove the post, ordering “Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff.”]